Well I am excited to be the first to write a review on this BO establishment. I am not sure why the Northside getting all the good establishments within a 2 mile radius from each other, but so far all of them have been worth the drive and this one was no different. I'll start with the reservations, they use Google reserve and it was easy peasy. The parking was plentiful. When we walked in were greeted by someone opening the door for us and by the hostess. I will warn you, that if hookah smoke irks your soul, this is not the spot for you at night. You may want to go in the daytime. But we were totally okay with it. It gives the vibes of hookah/sports bar/resturant. The music was was good. We were sat right away even with me forgetting to tell them I reserved seats. The customer service was AMAZING. I never had so many people check on me. The mangers checked on us throughout the night. They genuinely cared what we thought of everything. Our hostess Kiara was on point. She made great recommendations and provided awesome service. Now to the food! So the menu is limited, but they have all the staples you would usually see at a BO resturant. We started with the seafood eggrolls. They were soo good! We tried to be bouji and eat them with a fork but we let our inner hood out and picked them thanks up! Lol! So it was entree time. From the tik tok videos we already knew we wanted the Decky which is the stuffed fish...but what we didn't know is that it was 42.00!!! So after alot of prayer we decided to split the dish and add some wings since everybody there looked like they had wings. The fish was awesome. The wings were great too and you get alot of them. If I had to give a small bit of criticism it would be to make sure the rice under the fish is smoking hot like the fish. All of the other food came out smoking! The drinks were good too. The sidecar was on point and I loved the taste of the martini. I believe they open around 5pm and close at 2am. They open earlier on Sundays for brunch. Come conformable, dress code is not strict. This spot is definitely worth a revisit when I happen to be rolling through the nawf! read more

See all

This place has great customer service and a nice space and the food is pretty good (I've tried the grits and Honey siracha wings on separate occasions) First experience the better experience. The service was a bit slow for mid day but the lady was great and knowledgeable. Second time on a Friday night we tried reverse happy hour and the bar service was even slower, they barely had anything at the bar and we never got our original drinks because the margarita machine was still mixing. So they gave us frozen sidecars on the house after an hour. Speaking of the happy hour There's only $5 well shots and frozen margs included... no range at all. Negatively the nightlife isn't what I was expecting , music was inconsistent . I don't know if I was in church , a 90s R&b video or a drake concert. They played a lot of unknown music that was interrupted by notifications. I enjoyed my ability to experience but the inconsistency of this place will have to improve for a return. read more

En Vain - Fried fish and fried grit cakes - Hookah Bars Near Me - Houston, Texas

We visited here for a girls Sunday afternoon. Full group was settled in place around 4p and ordered a few items. We played it safe with the Chicken and Waffles (listed on menu as Chicken and Pancakes but was substituted this day) and each ordered various side items to try out. The Chicken was good, had a nice crisp to it. The waffles were a little harder than my preference. The Mac and cheese was decent, could have use a little more seasoning to it to make it better. The greens had good flavor to it. The dirty rice reminded me of liver Pudding more so than dirty rice. We thought we might have enjoyed some hookah, but on this day, the restaurant informed us that they would be closing at 5p, earlier than their normal timing so we weren't able to order a hookah before then. Good music was played and wasn't too loud which was good for our group to talk and catch up. read more

See all

I attended on a Wednesday night. The place wasn't really packed and the lights hadn't been dimmed yet. Upon entry the hostess was quickly able to seat me and let me know a waitress was on the way. After about 15 min the waitress came over. I order 2 drinks just incase they took a while and I was right. The drinks took about 20 min to get to me,hence me ordering 2 at once. I then ordered 8 wings to try the food out and let's just say the wings took longer than the food. After receiving my food I was pleased with the flavor of the wings and the size. Overall this was a mediocre experience at best and I can't say I will be planning to return. They're just getting started so maybe things will improve over time. read more

See all

The food was good, I mean spicy lemon pepper wings aren't that spicy but these had a little kick to it! My friend had the lemon pepper wings and my other friend had the shrimp and chicken pasta. This is a restaurant, but I feel mostly a hookah bar. If you're not one to endure the smoke from hookahs this isn't the place for you! The crowd is chill and friendly; there's definitely a vibe here. Our waiter Evan was on point and he definitely provide good customer service. Now be aware that they automatically add 18% gratuity to purchases $50 or more! So if your in the mood to ***k up the night and you live on da North...En Vain won't be in vain for You ! read more

See all

I wanted to support but yall make it extremely hard with catfish being $42 dollars. We got get our pricing right. Catfish is the cheapest fish known to man outside of swai and tilapia. Why am I paying almost 50 dollars for a 3 dollar fish, its not red snapper or rainbow trout. I p0 as well go to pappadeaux for those prices. read more

This restaurant is worth trying. The food was delicious- the service was fast. The music choice wasn't too loud, and the staff was diverse ( very rare). The managers hospitality and the waiters and waitresses were so attentive - you won't be hesitant to leave a tip. Well done. read more

En Vain - The Old Fashion - it was so beautiful I kinda didn't want to drink it - I just wanted to look at it. Absolutely beautiful! - Hookah Bars Near Me - Houston, Texas

See all

Man this place was very professional and great vibe I had. Good time for my first time coming to this place, the happy hour was only 5$ and the dinner was good, definitely check out this place if you ever in Houston texas read more

See all

For starters, the environment was great, we did not have a long wait to be seated (One Star). However, our waiter started off strong (great suggestions for food and drinks as first time guest) then he did not finish...we were taken over by another waiter who had to make up for all of the previous waiters mistakes. The service overall was HORRIBLE, food was not tasty, took too long for everything. They messed up my order, replaced it but still had horrible service. We asked for water 3-4 times and never received. The hookah was ok, the music was decent (Second star). Despite positive things seen on social media, this place is overrated! Food is not great at all. I love supporting our businesses but not when we do not have good service. Overall I recommend more wait staff and additional support staff so your waiters aren't overwhelmed and leaving customers waiting forever. Also a manager that follows through with requests. We asked a manager for water 2 out of the 3 times. Thanks! read more

See all

Ok the food is ok the salmon dinner was pretty good the dirty rice had some good flavor to it now the collard green.... Ummm it's needs some work I think whoever made it I think your missing something but any who the drink was pretty tasty now look it's basketball season y'all got the game on, and the music was just too loud but I take it's not a sports bar. Over all y'all got an outstanding customer service my waiter was amazing that why I'm COMING BACK! read more

Noah our waiter was great! Great service and food and drinks were delicious! The vibe was great!

The food was delicious! I had the Deckey and 2 lemon drop martinis and my kids had the fried fish. Will definitely visit again! Great atmosphere and service. They have Neon lit hookas and and a ring light for selfies or social media posts. Love it! Lastly, the bathrooms were clean and had warm, instead of cold, water to wash your hands. read more

Decided to try En Vain since I was in the area and on my list. The restuarant hasn't been open very long. The menu has just enough items not to be overwhelming. We decided on multiple items even though we said we wouldn't ‍. To start, I got the Pornstar Martini.. Don't mind the name..but the taste . It was delicious . For appetizers, we had seafood egg rolls they were severed as 4 pre-cut pieces. Trying to decide to eat it proper with a knife and fork or just pick it up with my hands..picking it up was the only way to properly eat it. For entrée we had fried lemon pepper wings and The Decky which was the stuffed catfish. The serving was way more than expected. I'm glad there were 2 of us to share. It was stuffed with spinach and En Vain sauce. I struggled through my portion because I was already full from appetizers and drinks. It was delicious, and I plan to return to try other great looking dishes. read more

See all

Our bartender disappeared as soon as we got our drinks. After that we realized that our bartender was eating and smoking hookah. We wanted to order food and waited about 20-25 minutes, our bartender left, and nobody approached us to ask if we needed anything. We didn't feel like waiting any longer for service so we proceeded to leave our cash and proceeded to leave. When the other bartender got a waitress to stop us thinking we ran off on the bill. It's a no for me. Hire people who actually know what GOOD customer service is. read more

I went to this restraunt last week and I was not happy with my service at all. The wait staff was very friendly but slow. They didn't bring utensils with the food and had to wait to flag my waitress down to bring it. Speaking of the food I originally ordered was catfish, fried with grit cakes in a cajun cream sauce. It was recommended as a crowd pleaser by the waitress, so I was excited when it came out, it was plated well. But I noticed that there was not much sauce for the size of the cakes to give a size comparison. I would say they were the size of 2 texas toast stacked together. I asked the waitress if I could get more sauce as I waited for her to return. I tried my food. It was BLAND, and the sauce was watery it tasted like a watered-down rotel with crawfish tails in it. It was taking my waitress so long to return. I tried the Mac and cheese once again WATERY and BLAND! My date ordered from the brunch menu. The pancake and fried chicken, but saw a lunch menu and changed his order to a Salmon pasta with cajun sauce. There was no mention of what all was included in sauce and when it came out it had crawfish in it which he didn't eat so he picked around it and realized it was the same sauce from my meal. He said the salmon was good, but the pasta was TRASH. Once the waitress returned with my sauce, I told her that I didn't like my meal and wanted to change it, so she went to get her supervisor who came to the table and asked what I didn't like and said he did notice how thin the sauce looked and allowed me to make a new order at this point we had been at the restaurant for 2 hours and I was ready to go! So I ordered what I thought was a basic dish. You couldn't mess up. A salad, fried chicken, Cobb salad that supposedly came with a bolied egg, blue cheese, candied bacon tomatoes, and acacado on Romain mixwirh Spicy Ranch. But what was brought to me almost 30 min later was a salad missing all the ingredients except lettuce (iceberg), shredded cheese, and my small fried chicken breast. Again I complained supervisor came over again said he would fixed it I said no just take it of my ticket im ready to go he's like no I'll get them to fix it I tell him that I came from the EASTSIDE of Houston this was almost and hours drive take it off and if they're fixing it I'll wait because I was HUNGRY ASF! He agreed to take it off my ticket, and 20 min later, my new salad arrived. I opened it in front of him, still missing my eggs he then says we don't have any. Wtf? This is the main ingredient of a COBB SALAD. I just said ok since it's free. Anyway, my date paid. We left, and when I checked the receipt, my salad was still on the $14, and my total ticket price was 74 dollars. I now remind you that anything over 60 dollars is 18% gratuity. And it's not about the money because I travel and spend well for hood food but this was the worst Black Restaurant experience I've ever had. read more

En Vain - Hookah Bars Near Me - Houston, Texas

The host made inappropriate comments about me not finishing my food even though I still paid for it. The food wasn't seasoned enough.

Our waitress was never coming back to check on us. We kept having to flag her down. I ordered a jolly rancher drink which ended up being $23 when the check came. (They said because of the liquor they used) You would never know there was any liquor in there because it taste so sweet I had to add WATER to the drink twice to try and take away the sweetness. Never again. read more

The vibe is cool. Hookahs, music etc. we had a party of 12. They accommodated us by squeezing us in a corner next to a table so close that their chair was against our table. It took the waitress 20 minutes to bring water. Most of the table ordered sidecars and they were horrible. Watered down. Waitress came with a Dr. Pepper that we thought was ginger ale. She insisted that it was Dr. Pepper. Who doesn't know what Dr. Pepper should look like? No way it should be almost clear. Why even bring that to our table?? Someone else from our table ordered lemonade. I guess they ran out midway and added Sierra Mist. The wings were good. The side fries were $5...table had 2. They came in a small serving plate and they were mostly the fries left at the bottom of the bag, small and crispy. The catfish...GREAT!!! At the end of the night, we look at our bill...WHO CHARGES $3.00 for sugar on the rim of your glass? Especially without informing the guests. Collectively all of us decided that we will not visit this place again. Try to support but too many negatives and not enough positives. And next time you decide to have a time limit for tables...make sure the food is out at a reasonable time. read more